Anonymous Coward writes: "For the anonymous cowards everywhere, here @/. (who are everywhere (& nowhere)):
"You will dress only in attire specially sanctioned by MIB special services. You'll conform to the identity we give you, eat where we tell you, live where we tell you. From now on, you'll have no identifying marks of any kind. You will not stand out in any way. Your entire image is crafted to leave no lasting memory with anyone you encounter. You are a rumor. Recognizeable only as deja vu, & dismissed just as quickly. You don't exist. You were never even born. Anonymity is your name. Silence, your native tongue. You are no longer part of the system. You are above the system, over it, beyond it. We're THEM. We're THEY. We are the Men In Black." Zed To Agent J & Agent K.
And, you just like Will Smith said:
"YOU KNOW WHAT THE DIFFERENCE IS BETWEEN ME & YOU? I MAKE THIS, LOOK GOOD...""Link to Original Source

artymiak writes: "Bloggers who want to be treated as journalists should think twice for their wishes may come true in a surprising package. They may fall into traps they have not foreseen, when new technologies clash with old laws.
In its recent ruling, the Polish Supreme Court has declared that websites, including blogs, fall under the articles of the Polish press law of 1984. The exact details of the ruling aren't know at this moment, but according to the Polish press law, sites updated more often than once a year will be treated as magazines and sites updated more often than once a week will be treated as newspapers."Link to Original Source

Anonymous Coward 11 writes: Earlier this month, the Computer & Communications Industry Association filed a complaint with the FTC alleging that professional sports leagues, Hollywood studios, and book publishers were all using copyright notices that misrepresented the law. Now, the group has launched a web site called Defend Fair Use that shows they are serious about making the complaint stick.Link to Original Source

im_mac writes: Supermarket chain A&P has sued two brothers for $1million after they posted a parody entitled "Produce Paradise" on YouTube. The video "prompted at least one complaint by a 'disgusted and distressed' customer who said she will no longer shop at A&P thanks to the 'repulsive acts' in the video. Though how they knew it was A&P is questionable since the brothers took care not to feature any A&P logos or mention it in their lyrics. Trying to get $1million out of a couple of college students whose source of income was working at A&P until they were fired, might be rather difficult. More info is also posted on the pair's website: FakeLaugh, including their belief that the complaint that brought the video to the management's attention was prompted by some sort of personal vendetta.

Chris Knight writes: "Long story short: I ran for school board where I live this past fall and created some TV commercials including this one with a "Star Wars" theme. A few months ago VH1 grabbed the commercial from YouTube and featured it in a segment of its show "Web Junk 2.0". Neither VH1 or its parent company Viacom told me they were doing this or asked my permission to use it, but I didn't mind it if they did. It was great to see the commercial was being enjoyed by a far wider audience than I'd expected. I was honored that they chose to use it and thought that Aries Spears's commentary about it was pretty hilarious, so I posted a clip of VH1's segment on YouTube so that I could put it on my blog. This morning I got an e-mail from YouTube saying that the video has been pulled because Viacom is claiming that I'm violating its copyright. Viacom used my video without permission on their commercial television show, and now says that I am infringing on THEIR copyright for showing the clip of the work that Viacom made in violation of my own copyright! Talk about chutzpah! Needless to say, I would like to fight this: not for any kind of monetary compensation, but just for the right to employ my own self-created material per Fair Use."Link to Original Source

savedbythetree writes: Apple Insider reports "Published just last week, the WIPO patent for a "Portable Electronic Device with Interface Reconfiguration Mode" was submitted in late December 2006, just days before Apple chief Steve Jobs was set to take the stage at Macworld and unveil his company's first cellphone. The patent echoes a similar US-only filing made in December 2005 but would apply to dozens of countries across Africa, Asia, and Europe."Link to Original Source

An anonymous reader writes: Spoke.com is a new affront to the concept of internet privacy. If someone is stupid enough to join their service they harvest the identities in that person's contact list and use it for their own purposes. Once your name is listed in their system they keep it and sell access to your contact information. Requests to have names removed have been ignored and getting directly through to anyone at the company have proved useless. Ideas about dealing with this new form of internet demon are welcomed.

Peil writes: "A total of five charges have been brought against 21-year-old Mohammed Atif Siddique, from Clackmannanshire, under the Terrorism Act of 2000.

It has been alleged that he had several articles in his possession which gave rise to a "reasonable suspicion" of a connection with a potential act of terrorism.
These included documents containing terrorist propaganda, bomb making instructions and surveillance techniques.

The court heard the machine had been seized from Mr Siddique at Glasgow Airport in April last year.
A report a forensic analyst with the e-crime unit attached to the police, stated it had been turned on before he examined it.

From the article: "An initial examination of this system revealed it was last activated between approximately 2219 BST and 2330 BST on 5 April 2006.
"This immediately struck us as being unusual as we were informed that the computer had been seized from the accused's possession at about 2000 BST the same date."

Further examination revealed that the times and dates associated with more than 200 files on the system had been updated between these times.

An anonymous reader writes: THREE Sydney men charged with conspiring to blow up ATMs with powerful homemade explosive, allegedly obtained information on how to do it from the internet, police said today.
The men, who were among five arrested yesterday in a joint operation by federal and NSW police, were denied bail by a Sydney court today.
Fadi Bassil, 20, from Lakemba, Elias Taouk, 19, from Kingsgrove, and Badawi Nassour, 20, of Greenacre, were all remanded in custody until October 23.
A fourth man, Linley Desire Jose Anthony, was refused bail when he appeared in the same court yesterday. The fifth was released after questioning by police.
Police said the arrests followed a tip-off from Northern Territory authorities about the purchase of otherwise legal chemicals that could be used in the manufacture of nitroglycerine.
Police documents tendered in Sydney Central Local Court said the men bought 23 litres of chemicals as well as mixing equipment such as beakers, thermometers and droppers from a Darwin company.
The products could have been used to manufacture up to 40kg of nitroglycerine, police said.
Police said internet surveillance revealed that Mr Bassil had Googled "how to blow up ATM machines" and "how much money is kept in bank ATMs".
The men also had Googled a recipe for the explosives, and eventually gained all they needed from the internet in terms of knowledge and know-how to carry out the job, police said.
They said the men discussed by mobile phone and SMS how to best mix the chemicals to form the explosive and when and where to carry out tests using fireworks as detonators.
Mr Taouk was allegedly intercepted fantasising about what he would do with the loot from the planned roberies.
"Taouk said he couldn't wait to be on video and couldn't wait until he parked his Porsche in front of Roxy's (nightclub) in Parramatta," the police documents stated.
When refusing bail today, Magistrate Paul Lyon said: "the sheer volume of the substance takes it into the serious category".
Looks like Google is giving up search history to the man.
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,22327 716-5005940,00.html

badzilla writes: "Respected Finnish anti-virus company F-Secure has identified yet another Sony rootkit, this time in the Windows software packaged with a fingerprint-reading USB drive. No comment yet from Sony."Link to Original Source

Panaqqa writes: "Howard Berman, the Representative from Disney, is once again trying to turn ISPs into part of the RIAA/MPAA's extortion and shakedown juggernaut by requiring them to pass along threatening letters to subscribers that use P2P. This is quite alarming, coming as it does from the head of the house Intellectual Property Committee. Many P2P lawsuits are based on very flimsy evidence, such as an IP address alone. One can only hope that more defendants have positive outcomes such as winning back their attorney's fees."Link to Original Source

umStefa writes: For the last few years the music industry has claimed that reduced CD sales are the result of piracy, while slashdotters have constantly defended piracy on the grounds that main stream music was overpriced. Well know the largest music retailer in Canada has gone and cut their prices on CD's to try and increase sales (CBC article).
If successful could this spur music stores in other countries to reduce their prices? and could it have an effect on piracy rates? or is this simply a move destined to fail (by not increasing CD sales), thereby giving the music industry ammunition to get governments to pass legislation that will support their outdated business model. Only time will tell.

athloi writes: "The Central Council of Jews in Germany wants the government to begin a criminal investigation into Google and YouTube for airing neo-Nazi and Nazi videos they claim violate Germany's strict laws against inciting hatred toward minorities. Salomon Korn, VP of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, called for an investigation of YouTube for allegedly allowing the spread of anti-Semitic propaganda. They include World War II Nazi propaganda clips, as well as recent clips from neo-Nazi groups active in Germany. German journalists said one of the YouTube-aired clips was viewed more than 400,000 times in eight months, despite pleas from several German groups to take it down.

I hate what they say, but I'll defend to the death their right to say it. IIRC, one of Google's founders is Jewish, so I doubt it's sympathy that's making YouTube keep these videos online."Link to Original Source

mernil writes: "Police in China's capital said Tuesday they will start patrolling the Web using animated beat officers that pop up on a user's browser and walk, bike or drive across the screen warning them to stay away from illegal Internet content. Starting Sept. 1, the cartoon alerts will appear every half hour on 13 of China's top portals, including Sohu and Sina, and by the end of the year will appear on all Web sites registered with Beijing servers, the Beijing Public Security Ministry said in a statement.
China stringently polices the Internet for material and content that the ruling Communist Party finds politically or morally threatening."